This group portrait unites some of the regular contributors to the iconic Guardian Women's Page. Established as a platform for women's voices and concerns in 1957, under the editorship of the pioneering Mary Stott (far right), problems discussed on the page often became campaigning issues. Some of Stott's regular contributors, pictured here (from left to right) are cartoonist and illustrator Posy Simmonds, journalist and writer the late Jill Tweedie, columnist and broadcaster Polly Toynbee and journalist and Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund Dame Liz Forgan. Commissioned with assistance from The Guardian

Current affairs

The Queen opens the Channel Tunnel. After seven years of digging, various financial hold-ups and technical difficulties, a long-awaited rail link is created between Britain and France. The tunnel is 31 miles long with 24 miles under the sea, the longest under-sea tunnel in the world.

Art and science

Trevor Bayliss starts production of his clockwork radio. The innovation is a fantastic example of simple environmentally friendly design and has been found particularly useful in areas where there is no electricity supply, such as remote communities in Africa.Blur release their classic Britpop album depicting London life, Park Life.

International

Violence breaks out in Rwanda. An estimated 800,000 people were massacred in the Rwandan Genocide, most of them Tutsis, murdered by extremist Hutu militia groups.South Africa holds its first democratic elections in which full enfranchisement is granted. The African National Congress led by Nelson Mandela won the majority of the vote, and Mandela became the country's first black State President.

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